Data transmission method and apparatus thereof

ABSTRACT

The present disclosure relates to data transmission methods and apparatus. One example method includes receiving, by user equipment, a first message sent by a control plane network element or a user plane network element, where the first message includes a correspondence between a first quality of service identifier NQI and a first reflective quality of service identifier (RQI), obtaining, by the user equipment, a second message sent by the user plane network element, and if the second message does not carry a second RQI, generating, by the user equipment, a first quality of service rule based on the second message and the correspondence between the first NQI and the first RQI, where the second RQI is used to instruct the user equipment to activate a reflective quality of service (RQ) mechanism.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.16,381,215, filed on Apr. 11, 2019, which is a continuation ofinternational Application No. PCT/CN2016/101815, filed on Oct. 11, 2016.All of the aforementioned patent applications are hereby incorporated byreference in their entireties.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present application relates to the field of communicationstechnologies, and in particular, to a data transmission method and anapparatus thereof.

BACKGROUND

As a basic network architecture, a wireless network is carrying moreservices. Characteristics and requirements of the services as well asradio resource scarcity determine network behavior, and the networkbehavior is predefined by a quality of service (QoS) rule to implementaccess control, and resource guarantee and scheduling. For example, whena user is making a call, and someone starts to download a file, filedownloading may preempt the user's communication resource and causedisconnection of the call due to the radio resource scarcity. In thiscase, it is necessary to ensure that a voice call has a higher resourceuse priority than file downloading, to ensure a normal voice call whenthe radio resource is insufficient. Certainly, different services mayaccess the wireless network, and different QoS rules need to be set toensure that a key service is guaranteed.

In 3GPP TS24.139, reflective quality of service (Reflective QoS) isspecified. The reflective QoS means that uplink data of a fixed networkuser equipment UE uses a same QoS mechanism as downlink data of thefixed network user equipment UE.

As defined in the 3GPP, a management manner of QoS in an EPS wirelesssystem is as follows: QoS guarantee of various IP services provided bythe EPS system may be identified by one or more service data flows (SDF)of data transmitted by using the IP services. One SDF corresponds to oneEPS bearer, that is, one SDF is transmitted by using one EPS bearer, toimplement QoS guarantee for the IP service. In this way, the QoSguarantee for the IP service is transformed into QoS guarantee for theEPS bearer, or a QoS-specific SDF is mapped to a QoS-specific EPSbearer. A bearer is a logical transmission path. The EPS bearer is alogical transmission path between user equipment (UE) and a PGW (PDNgateway).

The service data flow and the bearer are associated and mapped by usinga traffic flow template (TFT), are associated with an RB-ID in thewireless network, and are associated with a tunnel endpoint identifier(TEID) in a core network. An uplink data flow is associated with the TFTby the UE, and a downlink data flow is associated with the TFT by thePOW. Each SDF includes at least one IP service flow filter. According todifferent QoS requirements, different services are filtered by the TFTand provided to different bearers for transmission, to implement QoSguarantee.

To simplify QoS design of a 5G network, and reduce signaling overheadsfor delivering a QoS rule by a network, a reflective QoS mechanism of afixed network, which is briefly referred to as an RQ mechanism, isintroduced into the 5G network. To be specific, the UE generates areflective quality of service rule (reflective QoS rule) for an uplinkservice based on a downlink data flow, and transmits uplink data basedon the reflective quality of service rule. However, in the prior art,based on a reflective QoS scenario, a manner of delivering a reflectivequality of service (Reflective QoS) parameter is a problem that needs tobe resolved currently.

SUMMARY

Embodiments of the present application provide a data transmissionmethod and an apparatus thereof. User equipment receives reflective QoSparameters sent by a control plane network element and a user planenetwork element, to implement transmission of uplink data of the userequipment based on a reflective QoS mechanism.

According to a first aspect, an embodiment of the present applicationprovides a data transmission method, and the method may include:

receiving, by user equipment, a first message sent by a control planenetwork element or a user plane network element, where the first messageincludes a correspondence between a first quality of service identifierNQI and a first reflective quality of service identifier RQI;

obtaining, by the user equipment, a second message sent by the userplane network element; and

if the second message does not carry a second reflective quality ofservice identifier RQI, generating, by the user equipment, a firstquality of service rule based on the second message and thecorrespondence between the first NQI and the first RQI, where the firstquality of service rule may be referred to as an implicit quality ofservice rule (implicit QoS rules), and may be specifically referred toas a control plane implicit quality of service rule (C-Plane implicitQoS rules).

The second RQI is used to instruct the user equipment to activate areflective quality of service RQ mechanism.

According to the data transmission method provided in this embodiment ofthe present application, the RQ mechanism of the user equipment isactivated based on a correspondence that is between an NQI and an RQIand that is sent by the control plane network element, and a receivedmessage that is sent by the user plane network element and that does notcarry the RQI, and a quality of service rule for determiningtransmission of uplink data is generated based on the RQ mechanism, toimplement transmission of uplink data of the user equipment based on thereflective QoS mechanism.

In comparison with first configuring a large quantity of uplink TFTs bythe control plane network element for the UE, activating the RQmechanism when downlink data sent by the user plane network element isreceived, and determining, in a large quantity of TFTs, the quality ofservice rule for transmission of uplink data save a signaling resourcebetween the control plane and the user equipment and storage space ofthe user equipment.

In addition, this embodiment of the present application furtherimplements RQ control of a coarse granularity (such as an NQI) by usinga signaling plane network element, and RQ control of a fine granularity(such as a flow) by using a user plane.

In a design solution, the first message may further include a firstreflective quality of service rule priority RQP, and the first RQP isused to indicate a priority order of the first quality of service rulegenerated by the user equipment based on the second message and thecorrespondence between the first NQI and the first RQI, to indicate thepriority order of the first quality of service rule during transmittingthe uplink data by the user equipment, and to guarantee QoS quality of acommunication service.

In another design solution, the method may further include:

if the second message carries the second RQI, generating, by the userequipment, a second quality of service rule based on the second message.The second quality of service rule may also be referred to as animplicit quality of service rule, and may be specifically referred to asa user plane implicit quality of service rule (U-Plane implicit QoSrules).

The design solution may implement RQ control of a fine granularity, forexample, RQ control of a data flow.

In still another design solution, the first message may further includea second reflective quality of service rule priority RQP, and the secondRQP is used to indicate a priority order of the second quality ofservice rule generated by the user equipment based on the secondmessage.

In this embodiment of the present application, the user equipment mayreceive indication information that is delivered by the control planenetwork element and that carries the priority order of the user planeimplicit quality of service rule, to indicate the matching priorityorder of the user plane implicit quality of service rule, so as toensure the QoS guarantee of a communication service. In this embodimentof the present application, the matching priority order of the userplane implicit quality of service rule is usually a highest matchingpriority during transmitting uplink data of all services by the userequipment, and a value of the priority order may be a default value.

In yet another design solution, at least one of the first message or thesecond message may include an aging time, the aging time is a timethreshold from last use of the first quality of service rule or thesecond quality of service rule to a current moment, and the method mayfurther include:

when a time for which the first quality of service rule or the secondquality of service rule is not used reaches the aging time, deleting, bythe user equipment, the first quality of service rule or the secondquality of service ride with an unused time that reaches the aging time,so that the user equipment manages a quality of service rule, and alsodeletes some quality of service rules that are not temporarily used,thereby saving storage space of the user equipment and improving systemperformance.

In another design solution, the at least one of the first message or thesecond message may further include at least one of an RQI use time, anRQI use granularity, an RQI use mode, or a use granularity of the agingtime, where

the RQI use time is a use time of the first quality of service rule orthe second quality of service rule; the RQI use granularity is a useunit of the first quality of service rule or the second quality ofservice rule; and the RQI use mode is a parameter mode of a temporaryuplink filter included in the first quality of service rule or thesecond quality of service rule.

According to a second aspect, an embodiment of the present applicationprovides a data transmission method, and the method may include:

receiving, by a user plane network element, a first message sent by acontrol plane network element, where the first message includes acorrespondence between a downlink filter, a quality of serviceidentifier NQI, and a reflective quality of service identifier RQI, andincludes marking indication information of the RQI;

determining, by the user plane network element based on the downlinkfilter, a quality of service identifier NQI corresponding to a qualityof service rule used by downlink data, and marking the downlink databased on the marking indication information of the RQI; and

sending, by the user plane network element, a second message to userequipment, where the second message is used to instruct the userequipment to or not to use a reflective quality of service RQ mechanism.

According to the data transmission method provided in this embodiment ofthe present application, the RQI is received through a user plane, or asignaling plane and a user plane, to activate the RQ mechanism, so as toimplement transmission of uplink data of the user equipment based on thereflective QoS mechanism, and implement fine-grained quality of servicecontrol. In addition, in comparison with configuring an RQI mark in adownlink packet corresponding to each reflective service granularityaccording to the quality of service rule received by the user planenetwork element, in this embodiment of the present application, the userplane network element marks the downlink packet with an RQI based on thereceived marking indication information of the RQI, thereby avoidingconfiguring the RQI mark in the downlink packet corresponding to eachreflective service granularity, and saving transmission resources of anNG3 interface and an air interface.

In a design solution, the first message may further include a reflectivequality of service rule priority RQP, and the RQP is used to indicate apriority order for sending the second message by the user plane networkelement to the user equipment.

In another design solution, the first message further includes at leastone of a use time of the RQI, a use granularity of the RQI, a use modeof the RQI, an aging time, or a use granularity of the aging time, where

the aging time is a time threshold from last use of a temporary uplinkfilter included in a quality of service rule generated by the userequipment based on the second message to a current moment; the RQI usetime is a use time of the quality of service rule generated by the userequipment; the RQI use granularity is a use unit of the quality ofservice rule generated by the user equipment; and the RQI use mode is aparameter mode of the temporary uplink filter.

According to a third aspect, an embodiment of the present applicationprovides a data transmission apparatus. The apparatus may be userequipment, and the user equipment includes a receiving unit, anobtaining unit, and a generation unit. For a principle for resolvingproblems and beneficial effects of the apparatus, refer to the firstaspect, the possible design solutions of the first aspect, and thebeneficial effects brought by the first aspect and the possible designsolutions of the first aspect. Therefore, for implementation of theapparatus, refer to implementation of the method. For brevity, detailsare not described herein again.

According to a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present applicationfurther provides a data transmission apparatus. The apparatus may be auser plane network element, and the user plane network element includesa receiving unit, a determining unit, and a sending unit. For aprinciple for resolving problems and beneficial effects of theapparatus, refer to the first aspect, the possible design solutions ofthe second aspect, and the beneficial effects brought by the firstaspect and the possible design solutions of the second aspect.Therefore, for implementation of the apparatus, refer to implementationof the method. For brevity, details are not described herein again.

According to a fifth aspect, an embodiment of the present applicationprovides user equipment. The user equipment includes a transmitter, areceiver, a processor, and a memory, where the transmitter and thereceiver are configured to send and receive signaling or/and data to andfrom an external device, the memory is configured to store computerexecutable program code, and the program code includes an instruction.When the processor executes the instruction, the solutions in the methoddesign in the first aspect and the solutions in the apparatus design inthe third aspect are implemented. For an implementation of resolvingproblems and beneficial effects of the user equipment, refer to thefirst aspect, the possible design solutions of the first aspect, and thebeneficial effects. Therefore, for implementation of the user equipment,refer to implementation of the method in the first aspect. For brevity,details are not described herein again.

According to a sixth aspect, an embodiment of the present applicationprovides a user plane network element. The user plane network elementincludes a transmitter, a receiver, a processor, and a memory, where thetransmitter and the receiver are configured to send and receivesignaling or/and data to and from an external device, the memory isconfigured to store computer executable program code, and the programcode includes an instruction. When the processor executes theinstruction, the design solutions of the method in the second aspect andthe design solutions of the apparatus in the fourth aspect areimplemented. For an implementation of resolving problems and beneficialeffects of the user plane network element, refer to the first aspect,the possible design solutions of the first aspect, and the beneficialeffects. Therefore, for implementation of the user equipment, refer toimplementation of the method in the first aspect. For brevity, detailsare not described herein again.

Based on the foregoing technical solutions, according to the datatransmission method and the apparatus thereof provided in theembodiments of the present application, the user equipment receives amessage that is sent by the control plane network element and thatincludes a correspondence between the quality of service identifier NQIand the reflective quality of service identifier RQI, and a message sentby the user plane network element, and generates the first quality ofservice rule based on the received messages, so that when receivinguplink data that meets the first quality of service rule, the userequipment transmits the uplink data according to the first quality ofservice rule, to transmit uplink data of the user equipment based on thereflective QoS mechanism.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

To describe the technical solutions in embodiments of the presentapplication more clearly, the following briefly introduces theaccompanying drawings required for describing the embodiments of thepresent application. Apparently, the accompanying drawings in thefollowing description show merely some embodiments of the presentapplication, and a person of ordinary skill in the art may derive otherdrawings from these accompanying drawings without creative efforts.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of transmission of uplink data based onreflective QoS according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 2 is an architectural diagram of a system of a communicationsnetwork according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of a data transmission method according to anembodiment of the present application;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of another data transmission method according toan embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of still another data transmission methodaccording to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of yet another data transmission method accordingto an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of a data transmission method according toan embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 8 is a flowchart of still yet another data transmission methodaccording to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 9 is a schematic structural diagram of user equipment according toan embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 10 is a schematic structural diagram of a user plane networkelement according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 11 is a schematic structural diagram of another user equipmentaccording to an embodiment of the present application; and

FIG. 12 is a schematic structural diagram of another user plane networkelement according to an embodiment of the present application.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

The present application provides a data transmission method and anapparatus thereof, so that a reflective QoS mechanism of a fixed networkmay be introduced into a future 5G communications network, and QoS usedby user equipment to transmit uplink data may be consistent with QoSused to transmit downlink data.

In the embodiments of the present application, a core network (CN)device sends a reflective quality of service parameter to the userequipment UE through a signaling plane and a user plane, so that theuser equipment generates a quality of service rule based on thereflective quality of service parameter, and uses same quality ofservice guarantee when transmitting the uplink data and the downlinkdata.

The reflective quality of service parameter may include a reflectivequality of service identifier RQI granularity, a reflective quality ofservice rule priority (RQP), and a reflective quality of serviceidentifier (Reflective QoS Indication, RQI).

The user equipment UE may receive a message that is sent by a controlplane (Control Plane, CP) network element and that includes acorrespondence between a next generation quality of service identifier(Next Generation QoS index, NQI) and the RQI, and a message sent by auser plane (UP) network element, so that the user equipment generates aquality of service rule based on the messages received from the controlplane network element and the user plane network element. When theuplink data received by the user equipment UE meets the quality ofservice rule, the user equipment UE transmits the uplink data by usingthe quality of service rule.

The message sent by the user plane network element may not carry theRQI. When receiving the message sent by the user plane network element,the user equipment obtains the NQI for sending the message by the userplane network element, activates the RQ mechanism based on thecorrespondence that is between the NQI and the RQI and that is receivedfrom the control plane network element, and generates the quality ofservice rule.

The message sent by the user plane network element may carry the RQI.When receiving the message sent by the user plane network element, theuser equipment activates the RQ mechanism, and generates the quality ofservice rule for transmitting the uplink data.

The generated quality of service rule includes an uplink filter, and adata radio bearer (DRB) consistent with that for transmitting thedownlink data. Details are shown in FIG. 1 .

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of transmission of uplink data based onreflective QoS according to an embodiment of the present application. Acontrol plane network element CP sends a quality of service rule (QoSrule) to a user plane network element UP, and the quality of servicerule includes a correspondence between a downlink packet filter, a nextgeneration quality of service identifier (NQI), and a reflective qualityof service identifier RQI, and includes marking indication informationof the RQI. The user plane network element sends a message to userequipment UE based on the received quality of service rule. The messageis filtered by the downlink filter to determine corresponding quality ofservice, for example, the next generation quality of service identifierNQI, and the message is sent to the UE by using a corresponding DRB inan access network. For example, in FIG. 1 , the message is sent to theUE by using a DRB 1 and a DRB 2. The message may include the reflectivequality of service identifier RQI, used to instruct the UE to activatean RQ mechanism.

In addition, the message may be a signaling plane message, or may be auser plane message. The signaling plane message is an instruction sentby the core network to the user equipment. The user plane message isdata sent by the core network to the user equipment, and the RQI may beconfigured in a header of a packet.

After receiving the message sent by the UP, the UE activates the RQmechanism based on the RQI in the message, and reversely determines,based on the message, a quality of service rule for transmitting uplinkdata. The quality of service rule includes information such as an uplinkfilter.

When the UE needs to transmit the uplink data, the UE filters, by usingthe uplink filter, the to-be-transmitted uplink data. If there is uplinkdata matching the uplink filter, the UE uses a DRB corresponding to theuplink filter to transmit the uplink data. As shown in FIG. 1 , the UEtransmits the uplink data by using the DRB 2.

It should be noted that, in FIG. 1 , uplink and downlink data may betransmitted through an access network (AN). An interface between the UEand the AN is referred to as a radio interface. An interface between theAN and the UP may be referred to as an AN-UP interface. In an existingLTE network, an interface between the AN and an S-GW is an S1 interface,and an interface between the S-GW and a P-GW is an S5/S8 interface.

In this embodiment of the present application, a message that carriesthe RQI and is sent by the UP to the UE may be transmitted through anNG3 interface between the UP and the AN, and a Uu interface between theAN and the UE, or is transmitted by using an NG3 bearer and a Uu bearer.

FIG. 2 is an architectural diagram of a system of a communicationsnetwork according to an embodiment of the present application. As shownin FIG. 2 , the system includes user equipment UE, a control planenetwork element CP, a user plane network element UP, an access networkAN, and a policy function device.

The control plane network element is responsible for mobility managementand control policy delivering in a mobile network, for example,delivering a quality of service rule for packet processing to the userplane, to instruct the user plane to filter, based on the quality ofservice rule, to-be-sent downlink data and perform RQI marking. Thecontrol plane network element CP may be a mobility management entity(MME), a gateway control plane, or all or some of control functionsformed by combining the mobility management entity and the gatewaycontrol plane.

The user plane network element UP is responsible for data processing andforwarding. The user plane network element may be a physical or virtualdevice such as a forwarding plane function of a PDN GW, a forwardingplane function of an S-GW, a router, or a switch.

The access network AN provides a radio access service for the userequipment, and includes but is not limited to an eNodeB, an access point(AP), and the like.

The user equipment UE is a network terminal device, including but notlimited to a mobile phone, a network access device, an Internet ofThings terminal device, and the like.

The following clearly describes the technical solutions in theembodiments of the present application with reference to theaccompanying drawings in the embodiments of the present application.Apparently, the described embodiments are some rather than all of theembodiments of the present application. All other embodiments obtainedby a person of ordinary skill in the art based on the embodiments of thepresent application without creative efforts shall fall within theprotection scope of the present application.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of a data transmission method according to anembodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 3 , the method100 includes the following steps.

S110. User equipment receives a first message sent by a control planenetwork element.

The first message may include a correspondence between a first qualityof service identifier NQI and a first reflective quality of serviceidentifier RQI.

In other words, the control plane network element may send, by using asignaling message, a reflective quality of service parameter including acorrespondence between an NQI and an RQI to the user equipment.

The first message may be specifically, for example:

RQI granularity (NQI1, RQI (no marking)).

The first message may be referred to as a quality of service rule, andan information parameter included therein, such as the NQI or the RQI,may be referred to as a reflective quality of service parameter. Themessage is used to indicate that:

each piece of data transmitted by using a quality of service rulecorresponding to the NQI1 is not marked with an RQI. In other words, anRQ mechanism is activated for all data transmitted by using the qualityof service rule corresponding to the NQI1. Downlink data matching a DLpacket filter 1 is transmitted by using the quality of service ruleNQI1, and the reflective QoS mechanism needs to be activated, but RQImarking does not need to be performed in a packet.

In this embodiment of the present application, the first message mayalternatively be specifically, for example:

UL packet filter 3→(NQI3, no RQI).

The message may be referred to as an explicit quality of service rule(explicit QoS rules), and a parameter included therein may be referredto as an explicit quality of service parameter (explicit QoSParameters). The message is used to indicate that:

uplink data matching the UL packet filter 3 is transmitted by using aquality of service rule corresponding to the NQI3, and the reflectiveQoS mechanism does not need to be activated.

In addition, in this embodiment of the present application, the firstmessage may further carry a reflective quality of service rule priorityRQP, to indicate a priority order for transmitting uplink data by theuser equipment by using a corresponding quality of service rule.

S120. The user equipment receives a second message sent by a user planenetwork element.

The second message may include a packet sent by the user plane networkelement to the user equipment, and a quality of service identifier NQIcorresponding to quality of service used for transmitting the packet.The packet may carry a reflective quality of service identifier RQI usedto instruct the user equipment to activate the reflective quality ofservice RQ mechanism. The packet may not carry the reflective quality ofservice identifier RQI. The RQI is used to instruct the user equipmentto activate the reflective quality of service RQ mechanism. In thisembodiment of the present application, the user plane network elementmay perform RQI marking on a packet based on the quality of service rulethat is sent by the control plane network element and that includes acorrespondence between a downlink packet filter, the next generationquality of service identifier, and the reflective quality of serviceidentifier RQI, and marking indication information of the RQI. Thedownlink packet filter includes content such as a source IP address, adestination IP address, a source IP port number, a destination IP portnumber, and a protocol type.

The user plane network element filters, by using the downlink packetfilter, to-be-sent downlink data, selects specific quality of servicefor the to-be-sent downlink data, and determines, based on the markingindication information of the RQI, whether the RQI needs to be added toor configured in a header of a to-be-sent downlink packet.

It should be further noted that, in this embodiment of the presentapplication, the downlink packet filter may be briefly referred to as adownlink filter (DL filters), and the next generation quality of serviceidentifier may be briefly referred to as a quality of serviceidentifier.

S130. If the second message does not carry a second reflective qualityof service identifier RQI, the user equipment generates a first qualityof service rule based on the second message and the correspondencebetween the first NQI and the first RQI.

If the second message received by the user equipment does not carry theRQI identifier, the user equipment determines, based on thecorrespondence that is between the NQI and the RQI and that is receivedfrom the control plane network element in S110 and an NQI correspondingto a bearer used by the user equipment for receiving the second message,to activate the RQ mechanism, and generates, based on the RQ mechanism,a quality of service rule for transmitting the uplink data. If thegenerated quality of service rule is not included in an existing qualityof service rule of the user equipment, the user equipment needs togenerate a new quality of service rule, and the quality of service rulemay be referred to as an implicit quality of service rule (implicit QoSrules). The implicit quality of service rule generated by using themethod may be referred to as a control plane implicit quality of servicerule (C-Plane implicit QoS rules). For example, an IP 5-tuple of thedownlink data includes a source IP address Y, a destination IP addressX, a source IP port number B, a destination IP port number A, and aprotocol type C. An IP 5-tuple of a reversed uplink packet filterincludes a source IP address X, a destination IP address Y, a source IPport number A, a destination IP port number B, and a protocol type C.

The user equipment generates the implicit quality of service rule basedon the IP 5-tuple of the downlink data, the quality of serviceidentifier NQI or a QoS class identifier (QoS Classification Identifier,QCI) corresponding to the quality of service for transmitting the secondmessage, and the RQ mechanism. The quality of service rule includes acorrespondence between the uplink packet filter and the quality ofservice identifier NQI. The uplink packet filter includes parameterinformation of the IP 5-tuple used to filter the uplink data, and the IP5-triple includes the source IP address, the destination IP address, thesource IP port number, the destination IP port number, the protocoltype, and the like.

It should be noted that, in this embodiment of the present application,the quality of service identifier NQI is indicated as a QoS quality ofservice identifier in a 5G network, and may be one or more parameters,for example, a combination of a forwarding priority, a delay, and apacket loss rate, similar to a QoS class identifier in an EPS.

It should be noted that, in this embodiment of the present application,the uplink packet filter may be briefly referred to as an uplink filter(UL Packet filters). In addition, a newly generated uplink filter may bereferred to as a temporary uplink filter.

It should be further noted that, in this embodiment of the presentapplication, the generated implicit quality of service rule may furtherinclude the reflective quality of service rule priority RQP, to indicatea matching priority order of the C-plane implicit QoS rule.

It should be understood that, if the quality of service rule generatedby the user equipment based on the RQ mechanism is included in theexisting quality of service rule of the user equipment, a new quality ofservice rule does not need to be generated.

When receiving the uplink data that matches the newly generated or theexisting uplink filter, the user equipment transmits the uplink data byusing a quality of service rule corresponding to the uplink filter, toimplement transmission of uplink data of the user equipment based on theRQ mechanism.

According to the data transmission method provided in this embodiment ofthe present application, the RQ mechanism of the user equipment isactivated based on the correspondence that is between the NQI and theRQI and that is sent by the control plane network element, and areceived message that does not carry the RQI and that is sent by theuser plane network element, and a quality of service rule fortransmitting the uplink data is generated or determined based on the RQmechanism, to implement transmission of uplink data of the userequipment based on the reflective QoS mechanism.

In comparison with first configuring a large quantity of uplink TFTs bythe control plane network element for the UE, activating the RQmechanism when downlink data sent by the user plane network element isreceived, and determining, in a large quantity of TFTs, the quality ofservice rule for transmission of uplink data, a signaling resourcebetween the control plane network element and the user equipment andstorage space of the user equipment are saved in the presentapplication.

In addition, this embodiment of the present application furtherimplements RQ control of a coarse granularity (such as the NQI) by usinga signaling plane, and RQ control of a fine granularity (such as a flow)by using a user plane.

It should be noted that, in this embodiment of the present application,the C-plane implicit QoS rule may be dynamically sent by the controlplane network element to the user equipment and the user plane networkelement, and that the control plane network element sends indicationinformation RQP of a matching priority order to the user equipmentand/or the user plane network element is similar to a process in which acontrol plane network element sends information to the user equipmentand/or a user plane network element in 4G For brevity, details are notdescribed herein.

It should be understood that, in this embodiment of the presentapplication, there is no time sequence between S110 and S120. The userequipment may perform S120 first and then perform S110, or may performS110 and S120 at the same time. This is not limited in this embodimentof the present application.

Optionally, in another embodiment of the present application, the firstmessage may further include a first reflective quality of service rulepriority (RQP). The first RQP is used to indicate a matching priorityorder of the first quality of service rule generated by the userequipment based on the second message and the correspondence between thefirst NQI and the first RQI.

To be specific, the RQP is used to indicate the matching priority orderof the implicit quality of service rule (implicit QoS rules) generatedby the user equipment based on the RQ mechanism, so that the userequipment determines, based on the RQP, the priority order of thequality of service rule used to match the uplink data.

For example, the UE maintains a quality of service rule A, a quality ofservice rule B, and a quality of service rule C. The matching prioritiesin descending order are the quality of service rule A, the quality ofservice rule B, and the quality of service rule C. In other words, apriority of the quality of service rule A is the highest, a priority ofthe quality of service rule B is the second highest, and a priority ofthe quality of service rule C is the lowest. When receiving the uplinkdata, based on the matching priorities of the quality of service rules,the UE first determines whether the uplink data matches the quality ofservice rule A, if the uplink data does not match the quality of servicerule A, determines whether the uplink data matches the quality ofservice rule B, and if the uplink data does not match the quality ofservice rule B, determines whether the uplink data matches the qualityof service rule C. Therefore, even if the quality of service rule A andthe quality of service rule B include a same packet filter, a quality ofservice rule used to send a packet matching the packet filter isdetermined based on the matching priority.

The implicit quality of service rule generated by the user equipmentbased on the RQ mechanism includes a control plane implicit quality ofservice rule (C-Plane implicit QoS rules) and a user plane implicitquality of service rule (U-Plane implicit QoS rules). The user planeimplicit quality of service rule is the implicit quality of service rulegenerated by the user equipment based on the RQ mechanism after the userequipment activates the RQ mechanism based on the RQI carried in thesecond message sent by the user plane network element.

The first message may be specifically, for example:

RQI granularity (NQI1, RQI (no marking)), RQPx; or

UL packet filter 3→(NQI3, no RQI), RQPm.

The first message is separately used to indicate that:

a matching priority order of the C-plane implicit QoS rule in thequality of service rule in the user equipment is RQPx; or

uplink data matching the UL packet filter 3 is transmitted by using aquality of service rule corresponding to the NQI3, and the reflectiveQoS mechanism does not need to be activated. A matching priority orderof the quality of service rule “UL packet filter 3→(NQI3, no RQI)” isRQPm.

In addition, the first message may further include priority indicationinformation of the U-plane implicit QoS rule, and may be specifically,for example:

RQPy for U-plane implicit QoS rule.

The priority indication information is used to indicate that thematching priority order of the U-plane implicit QoS rule is RQPy. Inthis embodiment of the present application, the RQPy is a default value,and has a highest matching priority order during transmitting of theuplink data by the user equipment.

It should be noted that, in this embodiment of the present application,numbers 1, 2, and 3 are used to distinguish different NQIs, and lettersx and m are used to distinguish different RQPs. The numbers and lettersdo not constitute any limitation on the solutions of the presentapplication. In this embodiment of the present application, anothermanner may alternatively be used for distinguishing. This is not limitedin this embodiment of the present application.

Optionally, in another embodiment of the present application, as shownin FIG. 4 , the method 100 may further include the following steps.

S140. If the second message carries a second RQI, the user equipmentgenerates a second quality of service rule based on the second message.

If the second message sent by the user plane network element andreceived by the user equipment carries the RQI, the user equipmentactivates the RQ mechanism based on the RQI, and generates a quality ofservice rule based on the RQ mechanism. The quality of service rule maybe referred to as a user plane implicit quality of service rule (U-Planeimplicit QoS rules). In this embodiment of the present application, theuser equipment may generate the quality of service rule, namely, theU-plane implicit QoS rule, based on the IP 5-tuple of the downlink datain the second message, the quality of service identifier NQI or the QoSclass identifier (QCI) corresponding to the quality of service fortransmitting the second message, and the RQ mechanism. The quality ofservice rule includes a correspondence between the uplink packet filterand the quality of service identifier NQI. The uplink filter may bereferred to as a temporary uplink filter. A specific process is similarto the process in which the user equipment generates the C-planeimplicit QoS rule based on the second message. For detailed description,refer to S130 in FIG. 3 . For brevity, details are not described hereinagain.

It should be noted that, in this embodiment of the present application,the generated quality of service rule may further include the reflectivequality of service rule priority RQP, to indicate the matching priorityorder of the U-plane implicit QoS rule.

According to the data transmission method provided in this embodiment ofthe present application, the marking indication information of the RQIsent by the control plane is used to instruct the UL to use the RQmechanism for one type of aggregated data flow, for example, for allservices mapped to a same NQI, to implement coarse-grained quality ofservice control. The RQI is added to the message sent by the user planenetwork element, thereby implementing fine-grained data flow control. Inaddition, based on the RQ mechanism, transmission of uplink data isimplemented.

The solution may be separately implemented, to complete transmission ofuplink data based on the RQ mechanism. In solutions of S110, S120, andS130 in FIG. 3 , the reflective quality of service parameter isindicated by using the signaling plane and the user plane. Compared witha separately implemented solution in which the reflective quality ofservice parameter is indicated only by using the user plane in FIG. 4 ,RQI marking does not need to be performed in each packet of each dataflow. Especially when the downlink packet filter carries a wildcard, alarge quantity of packets matching the downlink packet filter need to bemarked with RQIs, in this embodiment of the present application, RQIparameter transmission by using the signaling plane saves a largequantity of transmission resources of the user plane.

Optionally, in another embodiment of the present application, the firstmessage further includes a second reflective quality of service rulepriority RQP, and the second RQP is used to indicate a matching priorityorder of the second quality of service rule generated by the userequipment based on the second message.

The user equipment may obtain the indication information of the matchingpriority order, namely, the RQP, of the U-plane implicit QoS rule fromthe control plane network element, so that when receiving the uplinkdata matching the U-plane implicit QoS rule, the user equipmentdetermines the matching priority order of the quality of service rulebased on the RQP.

The priority order of the user plane implicit quality of service ruleusually has a highest priority during transmitting uplink data of allservices by the user equipment, and a value of the priority order may bea default value.

Optionally, in another embodiment of the present application, at leastone of the first message or the second message includes an aging time,and the aging time is a time threshold from last use of the firstquality of service rule or the second quality of service rule to acurrent moment.

In other words, the first message received by the user equipment fromthe control plane network element may include the aging time, and theaging time is a preset time threshold from last use of the C-planeimplicit QoS rule to transmit the uplink data to a current moment.

The second message received by the user equipment from the user planenetwork element may also include the aging time, and the aging time is apreset time threshold from last use of the U-plane implicit QoS rule totransmit the uplink data to a current moment.

In this embodiment of the present application, the aging time may becustomized according to a requirement. In this embodiment of the presentapplication, a value of the aging time is not limited.

As shown in FIG. 5 , the method 100 may further include the followingstep:

S150. When a time for which the first quality of service rule or thesecond quality of service rule is not used reaches the aging time, theuser equipment deletes the first quality of service rule or the secondquality of service rule with an unused time that reaches the aging time.

When the user equipment determines, based on the aging time, an implicitquality of service rule with an unused time that reaches the aging time,including the C-plane implicit QoS rule and the U-plane implicit QoSrule, the user equipment deletes the implicit quality of service rule,so that the user equipment manages the quality of service rule based onthe RQ, and at the same time, and deletes some quality of service rulesthat are not temporarily used, thereby saving some resources andimproving system performance.

It should be noted that, in this embodiment of the present application,in addition to deleting the uplink filter based on the aging time, theuser equipment may further delete, based on disconnection of a session,an uplink filter related to the session.

Optionally, in another embodiment of the present application, the atleast one of the first message or the second message further includes atleast one of an RQI use time, an RQI use granularity, an RQI use mode,or a use granularity of the aging time.

The RQI use time is an available time of the first quality of servicerule or the second quality of service rule. The RQI use granularity is ause unit of the first quality of service rule or the second quality ofservice rule. The RQI use mode is a parameter made of a temporary uplinkfilter included in the first quality of service rule or the secondquality of service rule.

In other words, the RQI use time is used to indicate an effective timeof an RQ parameter corresponding to the RQI.

The RQI use granularity is used to indicate a use scope of the RQI,including data transmission in units such as an NQI, a flow priorityindicator (FPI), a QCI, a protocol data unit (PDU) session, userequipment, or a data flow.

For example, if the RQI use granularity is an NQI, an FPI, or a QCI, itindicates that uplink data of all PDU sessions of DRBs corresponding tothe NQI, the FPI, or the QCI may use the reflective QoS.

If the RQI use granularity is a PDU session, it indicates that uplinkdata of the PDU session uses the reflective QoS.

If the RQI use granularity is UE, it indicates that all uplink data ofthe UE uses the reflective QoS.

If the RQI use granularity is a flow, it indicates that uplink data onthe flow uses the reflective QoS.

It should be noted that a signaling message delivered by the user planenetwork element may simultaneously include a mixture of a plurality ofgranularities, for example, the signaling message may indicate that aflow 1, a PDU session 2, and a PDU session 3 use the reflective QoSmechanism. In this embodiment of the present application, no limitationis imposed on a mixture of the granularities.

The RQI use mode, namely, an RQ mode, indicates a packet filter modegenerated based on the RQ mechanism, namely, parameters required in thepacket filter. The parameters may be, for example, any combination ofparameters in the IP 5-tuple. To be specific, various 2-tuple modes,3-tuple modes, 4-tuple modes, 5-tuple modes, and the like may beimplemented. RQ mode IDs may be used to indicate different RQMs.

For example, the IP 5-tuple mode may be:

-   -   a source IP address;    -   a destination IP address;    -   a source port number;    -   a destination port number; and    -   a protocol type.

The 4-tuple mode may be:

-   -   a source IP address;    -   a destination IP address;    -   a source port number; and    -   a destination port number;

or,

-   -   a source IP address;    -   a destination IP address;    -   a source port number; and    -   a protocol type.

The 3-tuple mode may be:

-   -   a source IP address;    -   a destination IP address; and    -   a protocol type;

or,

-   -   a destination IP address;    -   a source port number; and    -   a destination port number;

or,

-   -   a destination IP address;    -   a destination port number;    -   a protocol type;

and so on.

It should be noted that the RQ mode may correspond to the PDU session,the flow, or the NQI. It is necessary to indicate that the RQ modecorresponds to the PDU session, the flow, or the NQI during sending ofthe RQ mode. The PDU session is identified by using a PDU session ID orone or more 5-tuple identifiers, and the flow is identified by using aflow ID or a 5-tuple identifier.

It should be noted that the RQ mode may be delivered by a networkcontrol plane network element to the UE during establishment of the PDUsession.

It should be noted that the RQ mode may be a combination of otherparameters. This is not limited in this embodiment of the presentapplication.

It should be further noted that one RQI may correspond to a plurality ofRQ modes. An RQ mode currently used by the RQI may be modified accordingto a specific scenario or requirement.

The use granularity of the aging time is used to indicate a use unit ofthe uplink filter in the quality of service rule.

For example, the use granularity of e aging time may be an NQI, an FPI,a QCI, a PDU session, UE, a flow, or the like.

If the use granularity of the aging time is an NQI, an FPI, or a QCI, adelivered QoS rule includes the aging time and the NQI, the FPI, or theQCI. The NQI, the FPI, and the QCI correspond to DRBs, and UL filtersmapped to a same DRB based on the RQ mechanism use a same aging time.

If the use granularity of the aging time is a PDU session, a deliveredQoS rule includes the aging time and the PDU session. A UL filtergenerated by the UE based on the RQ mechanism uses a different agingtime in a different PDU session. In other words, for different PDUsessions on a same DRB, the UL filter has a different aging time.

If the use granularity of the aging time is UE, a delivered QoS ruleincludes the aging time. All UL filters generated by the UE based on theRQ mechanism uniformly use a same aging time.

If the use granularity of the aging time is a flow, a delivered QoS ruleincludes the aging time and a flow ID. All UL filters generated on theflow based on the RQ mechanism uniformly use a same aging time. In thisembodiment of the present application, information included in the firstmessage and/or the second message may be used to manage and process aquality of service rule newly established by the user equipment based onthe second message, to improve system performance.

It should be noted that “first” and “second” in this embodiment of thepresent application are only intended to distinguish information, but donot limit the information.

Optionally, in another embodiment of the present application, as shownin FIG. 6 , a method 201) may further include the following steps.

S210. A user plane network element receives a first message sent by acontrol plane network element.

The first message may be a signaling message sent by the control planenetwork element to the user plane network element through an NG4interface. The signaling message may include a correspondence between adownlink filter, a quality of service identifier NQI, and a reflectivequality of service identifier RQI, and includes marking indicationinformation of the RQI.

For example, the message may be specifically:

DL packet filter 1→RQI granularity (NQI1, RQI no marking); or

DL packet filter 2→RQI granularity (NQI2, RQI marking).

The message may be referred to as a quality of service rule, and aninformation parameter included therein, such as the NQI or the RQI, maybe referred to as a reflective quality of service parameter. The messageis used to indicate that:

downlink data matching the DL packet filter 1 is transmitted by using aquality of service rule corresponding to the NQI1, and the reflectiveQoS mechanism needs to be activated, but RQI marking does not need to beperformed in a packet; and downlink data matching the DL packet filter 2is transmitted by using a quality of service rule corresponding to theNQI2, the reflective QoS mechanism needs to be activated, and RQImarking may be performed in all downlink packets transmitted by usingthe quality of service rule corresponding to the NQI2.

For example, the DL packet filter 1 indicates a special type of webservice, such as Facebook, YouTube, and Google Maps. In this embodimentof the present application, the user plane network element UP receives“packet filter 1 of Facebook, YouTube, Google Maps, and etc.→RQIgranularity (NQI1, RQI no marking), RQPx” sent by the control planenetwork element CP, or the CP sends “packet filter of Facebook, YouTube,Google Maps, and etc.→RQI granularity (NQI1, RQI no marking), RQPx” tothe UP. After the UP receives the message sent by the CP, no RQI markingneeds to be performed in all downlink packets of the web services suchas Facebook, YouTube, and Google Maps, saving a transmission resourcewhen the UP sends downlink data to user equipment UE. The transmissionresource may be an NG3 interface between the UP and an AN, and an airinterface between the AN and the UE.

It should be noted that the first message may further be specifically:

DL packet filter 3→(NQI3, no RQI).

The message may be referred to as an explicit quality of service rule(explicit QoS rules), and a parameter included therein may be referredto as an explicit quality of service parameter (explicit QoSParameters). The message is used to indicate that:

downlink data matching the DL packet filter 3 is transmitted by using aquality of service rule corresponding to the NQI3, and the reflectiveQoS mechanism does not need to be activated.

S220. The user plane network element determines, based on a downlinkfilter, a quality of service identifier NQI corresponding to quality ofservice used by a downlink packet, and marks the downlink packet basedon marking indication information of an RQI.

As shown in FIG. 7 , if the message sent by the control plane networkelement and received by the user plane network element is: DL packetfilter 1→RQI granularity (NQI1, RQI no marking), packets of a flow 1, aflow 2, and a flow 3 are mapped based on the packet filter 1 to the NQI1for transmission, the reflective QoS mechanism needs to be activated(reflective QoS activation is mainly implemented in the UE), but RQImarking does not need to be performed in the packets.

For example, if downlink packets of web services such as Facebook,YouTube, and Google Maps match the packet filter 1, the downlink packetsare transmitted by using the NQI1, and no marking is performed in thedownlink packets of the web services.

If the message sent by the control plane network element and received bythe user plane network element is, for example, DL packet filter 2→RQIgranularity (NQI2, RQI marking), a packet of a flow 4 is mapped based onthe packet filter 2 to the NQI2 for transmission, the reflective QoSmechanism needs to be activated, and RQI marking needs to be performedin the packet.

If the message sent by the control plane network element and received bythe user plane network element is: DL packet filter 3→(NQI3, no RQI), apacket of a flow 5 is mapped based on the packet filter 3 to the NQI3for transmission, and the reflective QoS mechanism does not need to beactivated.

The marking indication information of the RQI sent by the control planeis received, to instruct the UE to use the RQ mechanism for one type ofaggregated data flow, for example, for all services mapped to a sameNQI, to implement coarse-grained quality of service control, forexample, to use the RQ mechanism in all flows on a same NQI. The RQIindication information sent by the control plane is received, and theRQI is added to or configured in a downlink packet corresponding to theRQI granularity, to indicate fine-grained (finer-granularity) quality ofservice control, for example, quality of service control on each flow.

S230. The user plane network element sends a second message to userequipment.

The second message is used to instruct the user equipment to or not touse a reflective quality of service RQ mechanism. The user plane networkelement may filter, by using the downlink filter, the downlink data andprovide filtered downlink data to a quality of service rulecorresponding to the quality of service identifier NQI. For example, theNG3 interface and the air interface send the second message to the userequipment. The NG3 interface may be an interface between the UP and theAN, and the air interface is an interface between the UE and the AN.

For example, if the message sent by the control plane network elementand received by the user plane network element is, for example, DLpacket filter 2→RQI granularity (NQI2, RQI marking), after S220 iscompleted, the user plane network element sends the second message tothe user equipment, and the second message does not carry the RQI. Afterreceiving the second message, the user equipment activates the RQmechanism, and performs S130 in FIG. 3 .

If the message sent by the control plane network element and received bythe user plane network element is: DL packet filter 1→RQI granularity(NQI1, RQI no marking), after S220 is completed, when the user planenetwork element sends the second message to the user equipment, thesecond message includes the RQI. After receiving the second message, theuser equipment further needs to perform S140 in FIG. 4 . For brevity,details are not described herein again.

It should be noted that the second message in this embodiment and thesecond message sent by the user plane network element to the userequipment in FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 are a same message.

According to the data transmission method provided in this embodiment ofthe present application, the ROI is received by the user plane, or asignaling plane and the user plane, and the RQ mechanism is activated,thereby implementing transmission of uplink data by the user equipmentbased on the reflective QoS mechanism. The marking indicationinformation of the RQI sent by the control plane is received, toinstruct the UE to use the RQ mechanism for one type of aggregated dataflow, for example, for all services mapped to a same NQI, to implementcoarse-grained quality of service control, for example, to use the RQmechanism in all flows on a same NQI. In addition, the control planenetwork element marks the downlink packet with an RQI based on thereceived marking indication information of the RQI, to avoid configuringan RQI mark in a corresponding downlink packet of each reflectiveservice granularity, and saving transmission resources of NG3 and airinterfaces.

Optionally, in another embodiment of the present application, the firstmessage may further include a reflective quality of service rulepriority RQP, and the RQP is used to indicate match order of the qualityof service rule.

For example, the first message sent to the control plane network elementand received by the user plane network element may be specifically:

DL packet filter 1→RQI granularity (NQI1, RQI no marking), RQPx; or

DL packet filter 2→RQI granularity (NQI2, RQI marking), RQPy, or

DL packet filter 3→(NQI3, no RQI), RQPz.

The message may be separately used to indicate that:

a matching priority of the quality of service rule “DL packet filter1→RQI granularity (NQI1, RQI no marking)” is RQPx; or

a matching priority of the quality of service rule “DL packet filter2→ROI granularity (NQI2, RQI marking)” is RQPy; or

a matching priority of the quality of service rule “DL packet filter3→(NQI3, no RQI)” is RQPz.

It should be noted that, in this embodiment of the present application,numbers 1, 2, and 3 are merely used to distinguish different D packetfilters or NQIs, and letters x, y, and z are used to distinguishdifferent RQPs. The numbers and letters do not constitute any limitationon the solutions of the present application. In this embodiment of thepresent application, another manner may alternatively be used fordistinguishing. This is not limited in this embodiment of the presentapplication.

Optionally, in another embodiment of the present application, the firstmessage may further include at least one of a use time of the RQI, a usegranularity of the RQI, a use mode of the RQI, an aging time, or a usegranularity of the aging time.

The aging time is a time from last use of a quality of service rulegenerated by the user equipment based on the second message to a currentmoment; the RQI use time is a use time of the quality of service rulegenerated by the user equipment; the RQI use granularity is a use unitof the quality of service rule generated by the user equipment; and theRQI use mode is a parameter mode of a temporary uplink filter includedin the quality of service rule generated based on the second message.

Functions or meanings of parameters in this embodiment of the presentapplication are the same as functions or meanings of parameters in thefirst message or the second message in FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 . For brevity,details are not described herein again.

In addition, the data transmission methods provided in the embodimentsin FIG. 3 to FIG. 7 may further save a transmission resource when the UPsends downlink data to the user equipment UE. As shown in FIG. 2 , thetransmission resource includes an NG3 transmission resource between theUP and the AN, and an air interface transmission resource between the ANand the UE.

For example, the DL packet filter 1 indicates a type of web service,such as Facebook, YouTube, and Google Maps. In this embodiment of thepresent application, the user plane network element UP receives “packetfilter of Facebook, YouTube, Google Maps, and etc.→RQI granularity(NQI1, RQI no marking), RQPx” sent by the control plane network elementCR or the CP sends “packet filter of Facebook, YouTube, Google Maps, andetc.→RQI granularity (NQI1, RQI no marking), RQPx” to the UP. After theUP receives the message sent by the CP no RQI marking needs to beperformed in all downlink packets of the web services such as Facebook,YouTube, and Google Maps, saving a transmission resource when the UPsends downlink data to the user equipment UE. The transmission resourcemay be the NG3 interface between the UP and the AN, and the airinterface between the AN and the UE.

If the user equipment receives the downlink packets of the web servicessuch as Facebook, YouTube, and Google Maps, the user equipmentdetermines, based on the received “RQI granularity (NQI1, RQI nomarking)” sent by the control plane network element through the NG1interface, that the RQ mechanism is activated, and if the quality ofservice rule is not included in an existing quality of service rule ofthe UE, generates a new C-plane. QoS rule “packet filter 1 of Facebook,YouTube, Google Maps, and etc.→NQI1”. If there is uplink data matchingthe newly generated C-plane implicit QoS rule “packet filter 1 ofFacebook, YouTube, Google Maps, and etc.→NQI1”, the user equipment sendsthe uplink data by using the C-plane implicit QoS rule.

The “RQI granularity (NQI1, RQI no marking” sent by the control planenetwork element through the NG1 interface and received by the userequipment corresponds to the first message received by the userequipment from the control plane network element in S110 in FIG. 3 .

In addition, the data transmission methods provided in the embodimentsin FIG. 3 to FIG. 7 may further save a transmission resource, and mayfurther save an NG1 transmission resource.

In comparison with that the control plane network element CP sends anexplicit quality of service rule, for example. “UL packet filter3→(NQI3, no RQI), RQPm”, to the user equipment through the NG1interface, that the control plane network element CP sends “RQIgranularity “(NQI1, RQI (no marking)). RQPx” to the user equipment UEthrough the NG1 interface does not require the CP to send filterinformation to the UE through the NG1 interface. As shown in FIG. 6 , ifthe explicit quality of service rule is modified, the CP needs to updatethe explicit quality of service rule to the UP and the UE, but the CPdoes not need to update the RQI granularity “(NQI1, RQI (no marking)),RQPx” to the UE through the NG1 interface, thereby saving a signalingresource of the NG1 interface, and save a large quantity of NG1signaling resources especially when a filter included in the quality ofservice rule corresponding to the NQI is dynamically updated.

For example, the DL packet filter 1 filters some special web servicessuch as Facebook, YouTube, and Google Maps. In this embodiment of thepresent application, the CP may send “packet filter 1 of Facebook,YouTube, Google Maps, and etc.→RQI granularity (NQI1, RQI no marking),RQPx” to the UP, and send “RQI granularity (NQI1, RQI no marking), RQPx”to the LIE, to save an NG1 signaling resource.

After receiving the downlink data sent by the user plane networkelement, the UE determines, based on the “RQI granularity (NQI1, RQI (nomarking))”, that the RQ mechanism is already activated. If the qualityof service rule for transmitting the downlink data is not included inthe existing quality of service rule of the UE, the user equipmentgenerates a new C-plane implicit QoS rule “packet filter of Facebook,YouTube, Google Maps, and etc.→NQI1”. If the user equipment receivesuplink data matching the C-plane implicit QoS rule, the user equipmentsends the uplink data based on the matching priority order RQPx and theC-plane implicit QoS rule “packet filter of Facebook, YouTube, GoogleMaps, and etc.→NQI1”.

If several web services, for example, a new web service 1, a new webservice 2, . . . , a new web service N need to be added to a special webservice list, and N is a positive integer, the network only needs toupdate the quality of service rule “packet filter of Facebook, YouTube,Google Maps, and etc.→RQI granularity (NQI1, RQI no marking), RQPx” to“packet filter of Facebook, YouTube, Google Maps, new web server 1, newweb server 2, new web server n, and etc.→RQI granularity (NQI1, RQI nomarking), RQPx” and sends the updated quality of service rule to the UP,without a need to update any signaling information to the UE, therebysaving an NG1 signaling resource.

FIG. 8 shows another data transmission method according to an embodimentof the present application. The method 300 may include the followingsteps.

S305. UE establishes a PDU session with a network.

S310/S310′. The UE sends an application request including a quality ofservice requirement (QoS requirement) to a control plane network elementCP, or an application server sends a service request including a qualityof service requirement (QoS requirement) to a control plane networkelement.

S315. The control plane network element determines a quality of servicerule (QoS rule) to be used.

S320/S320′. The control plane network element sends an applicationresponse message to the UE, or the control plane network element sends aservice response message to the application server.

It should be noted that, in this embodiment of the present application,S320/S320′ is an optional step.

S325. The control plane network element sends the QoS rule to a userplane network element UP.

S330. The control plaice network element sends the quality of servicerule to an access network AN.

It should be noted that, if a current session is a guaranteed bit rate(GBR) session, the quality of service rule needs to be sent to the AN.If a current session is a non-GBR (non-GBR) session, the quality ofservice rule does not need to be sent to the AN.

S335. The control plane network element sends the quality of servicerule to the UE.

In this embodiment of the present application, in addition to other QoSparameters such as an existing NQI/FPI/QCI and packet filter, the QoSrule may further include an aging time, a use granularity of the agingtime, an RQI, and an RQI use granularity.

Implemented functions and meanings of the parameters may be the same asmeanings of corresponding parameters in the “first message” or the“second message” in FIG. 3 to FIG. 7 . For brevity, details are notdescribed herein again.

S340. The UE receives PDU session data sent through a downlink.

The PDU session data may carry the RQI, so that the UE determines, basedon the PDU session data, a quality of service rule for transmittinguplink data.

It should be noted that the PDU session data includes parameterinformation of the first message sent by the user plane network elementto the user equipment in FIG. 3 to FIG. 7 , or the PDU session data andthe first message are a same message. For brevity, details are notdescribed herein again.

It should be further noted that, in this embodiment of the presentapplication, the PDU session data sent through the downlink and receivedby the UE may further carry the use granularity of the RQI, to limit aunit for transmitting the uplink data. For example, data transmissionmay be performed in a unit of a data flow, UE, an NQI, or the like.

The PDU session data may further carry the aging time, and the agingtime is a time from last use of a quality of service rule to a currentmoment.

S345. The UE determines, based on the PDU session data, a quality ofservice rule for transmitting uplink data.

The UE generates a new quality of service rule based on the received PDUsession data. The newly generated quality of service rule includes atemporary uplink filter used to filter the uplink data, and provideuplink data meeting the temporary uplink filter to a bearercorresponding to corresponding quality of service for transmission.

In this embodiment of the present application, the determining, by theUE based on the PDU session data, a quality of service rule fortransmitting uplink data is similar to the process in which the UEdetermines the first quality of service rule based on the first messagein S130 in FIG. 3 . For a detailed process, refer to S130 in FIG. 3 .For brevity, details are not described herein again.

S350. The UE processes the uplink data based on the quality of servicerule.

If the UE receives an uplink packet that meets the quality of servicerule, the UE transmits the uplink packet based on the correspondingquality of service rule.

If the UE receives uplink data that meets a temporarily generated uplinkfilter, the UE uses the quality of service rule corresponding to thetemporarily generated uplink filter to transmit the uplink data to thenetwork.

If the UE receives uplink data that meets an existing uplink filter ofthe UE, the UE uses a quality of service rule corresponding to theexisting uplink filter to transmit the uplink data to the network.

In addition, this embodiment of the present application may furtherinclude the following steps.

S355. The UE deletes a quality of service rule based on the aging time.

If the user equipment activates the RQ mechanism and generates a newquality of service rule, the newly generated quality of service ruleincludes a temporarily generated uplink filter (UL Filter). For detaileddescription, refer to S130 in FIG. 3 and S140 in FIG. 4 , or S130/S140in FIG. 5 . For brevity, details are not described herein again.

If the UE further needs to upload data, S360 is performed.

S360. The user equipment uses a default quality of service rule totransmit the uplink data.

It should be noted that, if the user plane network element sends datacarrying the RQI to the UE, the UE needs to perform S345 to S360.

According to the data transmission method provided in this embodiment ofthe present application, the RQ mechanism may be activated by usingmessages sent by the user plane and the signaling plane, to implementtransmission of uplink data based on the RQ mechanism, and at the sametime, manage the quality of service rule by the user equipment therebyimproving system performance.

The data transmission methods in the embodiments of the presentapplication are described above in detail with reference to FIG. 3 toFIG. 8 . The following describes, in detail with reference to FIG. 9 toFIG. 12 , the user equipment and the user plane network element in theembodiments of the present application.

FIG. 9 is a schematic structural diagram of user equipment according toan embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 9 , the userequipment 400 may include a receiving unit 410, an obtaining unit 420,and a processing unit 430.

The receiving unit 410 is configured to receive a first message sent bya control plane network element or a user plane network element, wherethe first message includes a correspondence between a first quality ofservice identifier NQI and a first reflective quality of serviceidentifier RQI.

The obtaining unit 420 is configured to obtain a second message sent bythe user plane network element.

The generation unit is configured to: if the second message does notcarry a second reflective quality of service identifier RQI, generate afirst quality of service rule based on the second message and thecorrespondence between the first NQI and the first RQI, where the secondRQI is used to instruct the user equipment to activate a reflectivequality of service RQ mechanism.

Specifically, the first message may be a singling message sent by thecontrol plane network element, and may specifically include a reflectivequality of service parameter, for example, a correspondence between anNQI and an RQI, and indication information RQP of a matching priorityorder of a reflective quality of service rule. The second message may bedownlink data sent by the user plane network element. The receiving unit410 receives the downlink data sent by the user plane network element,and by using the obtaining unit 420, obtains an NQI corresponding to aquality of service rule used to send the downlink data and learnswhether the downlink data includes the RQI. If the second messagereceived by the user equipment does not carry the RQI, the processingunit 430 determines, based on the NQI corresponding to the quality ofservice rule used to send the second message and the correspondence thatis between the NQI and the RQI and that is received from the controlplane network element, to activate the RQ mechanism, and generates thefirst quality of service rule based on the second message. The firstquality of service rule may be named an implicit quality of service rule(implicit QoS rules), and may be specifically referred to as a controlplane implicit quality of service rule (C-Plane implicit QoS rules).

Optionally, as shown in FIG. 9 , in this embodiment of the presentapplication, the user equipment may further include a sending unit 440.

If there is uplink data matching a newly generated implicit quality ofservice rule, the user equipment transmits the uplink data by using thenewly generated implicit quality of service rule, to implementtransmission of uplink data of the user equipment based on the RQmechanism, and at the same time, save a signaling resource between thecontrol plane network element and the user equipment as well as storagespace of the user equipment. RQ control of a coarse granularity (such asan NQI) by using a signaling plane, and RQ control of a fine granularity(such as a flow) by using a user plane are further implemented.

Optionally, in another embodiment of the present application, if thesecond message carries the second RQI, the processing unit 430 isfurther configured to generate a second quality of service rule based onthe second message.

The second quality of service rule is a quality of service rulegenerated by the processing unit 430 based on the second messagereceived by the receiving unit 410. The quality of service rule may alsobe referred to as an implicit quality of service rule, and may bespecifically referred to as a user plane implicit quality of servicerule (U-Plane implicit QoS rules).

Optionally, in another embodiment of the present application, the firstmessage may further include a first reflective quality of service rulepriority RQP, and the first RQP is used to indicate a matching priorityorder of the first quality of service rule generated by the userequipment based on the second message and the correspondence between thefirst NQI and the first RQI, to indicate a matching priority order ofthe control plane implicit quality of service rule.

Optionally, in another embodiment of the present application, the firstmessage may further include a second reflective quality of service rulepriority RQP, and the second RQP is used to indicate a matching priorityorder of the second quality of service rule generated by the userequipment based on the second message, to indicate a matching priorityorder of the user plane implicit quality of service rule in the userequipment. It should be noted that, usually the user plane implicitquality of service rule has a highest priority order in allcommunication services of transmitting uplink data by the userequipment, to improve QoS guarantee of a communication service.

Optionally, in another embodiment of the present application, at leastone of the first message or the second message includes an aging time,and the aging time is a time threshold from last use of the firstquality of service rule or the second quality of service rule to acurrent moment. As shown in FIG. 9 , an apparatus 400 may furtherinclude a deletion unit 450.

When a time for which the first quality of service rule or the secondquality of service rule is not used reaches the aging time, the deletionunit is configured to delete the first quality of service rule or thesecond quality of service rule with an unused time that reaches theaging time.

Optionally, in another embodiment of the present application, the atleast one of the first message or the second message further includes atleast one of an RQI use time, an RQI use granularity, an RQI use mode,or a use granularity of the aging time.

The RQI use time is a use time of the first quality of service rule orthe second quality of service rule; the RQI use granularity is a useunit of the first quality of service rule or the second quality ofservice rule; and the RQI use mode is a parameter mode of a temporaryuplink filter included in the first quality of service rule or thesecond quality of service rule.

It should be noted that, in this embodiment of the present application,the user equipment 400 in FIG. 9 corresponds to the user equipment inFIG. 3 and FIG. 5 , and corresponds to the execution body of the method100 in FIG. 3 , FIG. 4 , and FIG. 5 according to the embodiments of thepresent application. In addition, the foregoing and other operationsand/or functions of the modules in the user equipment are used toimplement corresponding procedures of the method in FIG. 3 to FIG. 5 .For brevity, details are not described herein again.

FIG. 10 is a schematic structural diagram of a user plane networkelement according to an embodiment of the present application. As shownin FIG. 10 , the user plane network element 500 includes a receivingunit 510, a determining unit 520, and a sending unit 530.

The receiving unit 510 is configured to receive a first message sent bya control plane network element, where the first message includes acorrespondence between a downlink filter, a quality of serviceidentifier NQI, and a reflective quality of service identifier RQI, andincludes marking indication information of the RQI.

The determining unit 520 is configured to determine, based on thedownlink filter, a quality of service identifier NQI corresponding to aquality of service rule used by downlink data, and mark the downlinkdata based on the marking indication information of the RQI.

The sending unit 530 is configured to send a second message to userequipment, where the second message is used to instruct the userequipment to or not to use a reflective quality of service RQ mechanism.

Specifically, the first message may be a signaling message, and mayinclude a reflective quality of service rule, where the reflectivequality of service rule includes a reflective quality of serviceparameter, for example, marking indication information of the RQI, andthe correspondence between the downlink filter, the NQI, and the RQI.

Optionally, in this embodiment of the present application, the firstmessage may further include another parameter, for example, a reflectivequality of service rule priority RQP used to indicate a matchingpriority order for sending the second message by the user plane networkelement to the user equipment.

Optionally, in this embodiment of the present application, the firstmessage may further include at least one of a use time of the RQI, a usegranularity of the RQI, a use mode of the RQI, an aging time, or a usegranularity of the aging time.

The aging time is a time threshold from last use of a quality of servicerule generated by the user equipment based on the second message to acurrent moment; the RQI use time is a use time of the quality of servicerule generated by the user equipment; the RQI use granularity is a useunit of the quality of service rule generated by the user equipment; andthe RQI use mode is a parameter mode of a temporary uplink filterincluded in the quality of service rule.

When the receiving unit 510 receives the first message sent by thecontrol plane network element, and when there is downlink data to besent, the determining unit 520 determines, based on the downlink filter,the quality of service identifier NQI corresponding to the quality ofservice rule used by the downlink data, configures, based on the markingindication information of the RQI, the RQI in a header of the downlinkpacket to be sent, and sends the downlink data to the user equipment byusing the corresponding quality of service rule.

The downlink data is sent to the user equipment by the signaling planeand the user plane, so that the user equipment determines, based on thedownlink data, to activate the RQ mechanism, and completes transmissionof the uplink data. In addition, sending the downlink data to the userequipment by the signaling plane and the user plane saves a transmissionresource.

It should be noted that, in this embodiment of the present application,the user plane network element 500 in FIG. 10 corresponds to the userplane network element in FIG. 6 , and corresponds to the execution bodyof the method 200 in FIG. 6 according to the embodiments of the presentapplication. In addition, the foregoing and other operations and/orfunctions of the modules in the user plane network element are used toimplement corresponding procedures of the method in FIG. 6 . Forbrevity, details are not described herein again.

FIG. 11 is a schematic structural diagram of another user equipmentaccording to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG.11 , the user equipment 600 includes: a receiver 610, a processor 620, amemory 630, a transmitter 640, and a communications bus 650, where thereceiver 610, the processor 620, the memory 630, and the transmitter 640are connected through the communications bus 650.

The receiver 610 is configured to receive a first message sent by acontrol plane network element or a user plane network element, where thefirst message includes a correspondence between a first quality ofservice identifier NQI and a first reflective quality of serviceidentifier RQI.

The processor 620 is configured to obtain a second message sent by theuser plane network element.

The processor 620 is further configured to: if the second message doesnot carry a second reflective quality of service identifier RQI,generate a first quality of service rule based on the second message andthe correspondence between the first NQI and the first RQI, where thesecond RQI is used to instruct the user equipment to activate areflective quality of service RQ mechanism.

If the user equipment receives uplink data matching the first quality ofservice rule, the transmitter 640 sends the uplink data, therebycompleting transmission of uplink data based on the RQ mechanism.

According to the user equipment provided in this embodiment of thepresent application, transmission of uplink data based on the RQmechanism may be implemented, thereby further implementing RQ control ofa coarse granularity, such as an NQI, at which a signaling plane,namely, the control plane network element sends the first message to theuser equipment, and RQ control of a fine granularity, such as a flow, atwhich the user plane, namely, the user plane network element sends thesecond message to the user equipment.

It should be noted that the receiver 610, the processor 620, the memory630, and the transmitter 640 in the user equipment 600 provided in thisembodiment of the present application may complete the method/stepsS110, S120, S130, S140, and S150 in FIG. 3 to FIG. 5 , and operationsperformed by the units included in the user equipment 400 in FIG. 9 .For brevity, details are not described herein again.

FIG. 12 is a schematic structural diagram of another user plane networkelement according to an embodiment of the present application. As shownin FIG. 12 , the user plane network element 700 may include a receiver710, a processor 720, a transmitter 730, and a communications bus 740.

The receiver 710 is configured to receive a first message sent by acontrol plane network element, where the first message includes acorrespondence between a downlink filter, a quality of serviceidentifier NQI, and a reflective quality of service identifier RQI, andincludes marking indication information of the RQI.

The processor 720 is configured to determine, based on the downlinkfilter, a quality of service identifier NQI corresponding to a qualityof service rule used by downlink data, and mark the downlink data basedon the marking indication information of the RQI.

The transmitter 730 is configured to send a second message to userequipment, where the second message is used to instruct the userequipment to or not to use a reflective quality of service RQ mechanism.

When receiving the second message sent by the user plane network element700, the user equipment activates the RQ mechanism based on the secondmessage, and generates a quality of service rule. For a detailedprocess, refer to S110, S120, and S130 in FIG. 3 . For brevity, detailsare not described herein again.

According to the user plane network element provided in this embodimentof the present application, the user plane, or a signaling plane and theuser plane receive the RQI, to activate the RQ mechanism, so as toimplement transmission of uplink data of the user equipment based on theRQ mechanism and fine-grained quality of service control. In addition,in this embodiment of the present application, the control plane networkelement marks a downlink packet with an RQI based on the receivedmarking indication information of the RQI, to avoid configuring an RQIin a corresponding downlink packet of each reflective quality of servicegranularity, and saving a transmission resource.

In addition, in this embodiment of the present application, the userplane network element 700 may further include a memory 750.

It should be noted that the receiver 710, the processor 720, and thetransmitter 730 in the user plane network element 700 provided in thisembodiment of the present application may complete the method/stepsS210, S220, and S230 in FIG. 6 , and operations performed by the unitsincluded in the user plane network element 500 in FIG. 10 . For brevity,details are not described herein again.

It should be understood that, in this embodiment of the presentapplication, the processor 620/720 in FIG. 11 and FIG. 12 may be acentral processing unit (CPU). Alternatively, the processor 620/720 maybe another general purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP),an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmablegate array (FPGA) or another programmable logic device, a discrete gateor a transistor logic device, a discrete hardware component, or thelike. The general purpose processor may be a microprocessor, or theprocessor may be any conventional processor or the like.

The memory 630/750 may include a read-only memory and a random accessmemory, and provide an instruction and a generated quality of servicerule to the processor 620/720. A part of the memory may further includea non-volatile random access memory. For example, the memory may furtherstore information about a device type.

In addition to a data bus, the bus system 650/740 may further include apower bus, a control bus, a status signal bus, and the like. However,for clear description, various types of buses in the figure are markedas the bus system 650/740.

In an implementation process, steps in the foregoing methods can beimplemented by using a hardware integrated logical circuit in theprocessor 620/720, or by using instructions in a form of software. Thesteps of the method disclosed with reference to the embodiments of thepresent application may be directly performed by a hardware processor,or may be performed by using a combination of hardware in the processorand a software module. A software module may be located in a maturestorage medium in the field, such as a random access memory, a flashmemory, a read-only memory, a programmable read-only memory, anelectrically erasable programmable memory, a register, or the like. Thestorage medium is located in the memory, and a processor readsinformation in the memory and completes the steps in the foregoingmethods in combination with hardware of the processor. To avoidrepetition, details are not described herein again.

A person of ordinary skill in the art may be aware that, in combinationwith the examples described in the embodiments disclosed in thisspecification, units and algorithm steps may be implemented byelectronic hardware, computer software, or a combination thereof. Toclearly describe the interchangeability between the hardware and thesoftware, the foregoing has generally described compositions and stepsof each example according to functions. Whether the functions areperformed by hardware or software depends on particular applications anddesign constraint conditions of the technical solutions. A personskilled in the art may use different methods to implement the describedfunctions for each particular application, but it should not beconsidered that the implementation goes beyond the scope of the presentapplication.

It may be clearly understood by a person skilled in the art that, forthe purpose of convenient and brief description, for a detailed workingprocess of the foregoing system, apparatus, and unit, reference may bemade to a corresponding process in the foregoing method embodiments, anddetails are not described herein again.

In the several embodiments provided in this application, it should beunderstood that the disclosed apparatus and method may be implemented inother manners. For example, the described apparatus embodiment is merelyan example. For example, the unit division is merely logical functiondivision and may be other division in actual implementation. Forexample, a plurality of units or components may be combined orintegrated into another system, or some features may be ignored or notperformed. In addition, the displayed or discussed mutual couplings ordirect couplings or communication connections may be implemented throughsome interfaces, indirect couplings or communication connections betweenthe apparatuses or units, or electrical connections, mechanicalconnections, or connections in other forms.

In addition, functional units in the embodiments of the presentapplication may be integrated into one processing unit, or each of theunits may exist alone physically, or two or more units are integratedinto one unit. The integrated unit may be implemented in a form ofhardware, or may be implemented in a form of a software functional unit.

The foregoing descriptions are merely specific embodiments of thepresent application, but are not intended to limit the protection scopeof the present application. Any modification or replacement readilyfigured out by a person skilled in the art within the technical scopedisclosed in the present application shall fall within the protectionscope of the present application. Therefore, the protection scope of thepresent application shall be subject to the protection scope of theclaims.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A data transmission method, wherein themethod comprises: receiving, by a user equipment, downlink datacomprising reflective quality of service identifier (RQI) information,wherein the downlink data matches a downlink filter; and generating, bythe user equipment based on the RQI information, a quality of servicerule for transmitting uplink data by a reflective quality of service(RQ) mechanism.
 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the RQIinformation instructs the user equipment to activate the reflectivequality of service (RQ) mechanism.
 3. The method according to claim 1,wherein the method comprises: receiving, by the user equipment, a firstmessage sent by a control plane network element or a user plane networkelement, wherein the first message comprises a correspondence between afirst next generation quality of service identifier (NQI) and a firstRQI.
 4. The method according to claim 3, wherein the first messagefurther comprises a first reflective quality of service rule priority(RQP), and wherein the first RQP is used to indicate a matching priorityorder of the quality of service rule and the correspondence between thefirst NQI and the first RQI.
 5. The method according to claim 3, whereinthe first message comprises an aging time, wherein the aging time is atime threshold from last use of a first quality of service rule or thequality of service rule to a current moment, and wherein the methodfurther comprises: when a time for which the first quality of servicerule or the quality of service rule is not used reaches the aging time,deleting, by the user equipment, the first quality of service rule orthe quality of service rule with an unused time that reaches the agingtime.
 6. The method according to claim 5, wherein the first messagefurther comprises at least one of an RQI use time, an RQI usegranularity, an RQI use mode, or a use granularity of an aging time, andwherein: the RQI use time is a use time of the first quality of servicerule or the quality of service rule; the RQI use granularity is a useunit of the first quality of service rule or the quality of servicerule; and the RQI use mode is a parameter mode of a temporary uplinkfilter comprised in the first quality of service rule or the quality ofservice rule.
 7. A user equipment, comprising: at least one processor;and one or more memories coupled to the at least one processor andstoring programming instructions for execution by the at least oneprocessor to perform operations comprising: receiving downlink datacomprising reflective quality of service identifier (RQI) information,wherein the downlink data matches a downlink filter; and generating,based on the RQI information, a quality of service rule for transmittinguplink data by a reflective quality of service (RQ) mechanism.
 8. Theuser equipment according to claim 7, wherein the RQI informationinstructs the user equipment to activate the reflective quality ofservice (RQ) mechanism.
 9. The user equipment according to claim 7,wherein the operations further comprise: receiving a first message sentby a control plane network element or a user plane network element,wherein the first message comprises a correspondence between a firstnext generation quality of service identifier (NQI) and a first RQI. 10.The user equipment according to claim 9, wherein the first messagefurther comprises a first reflective quality of service rule priority(RQP), and wherein the first RQP is used to indicate a matching priorityorder of a first quality of service rule and the correspondence betweenthe first NQI and the first RQI.
 11. The user equipment according toclaim 9, wherein the first message comprises an aging time, wherein theaging time is a time threshold from last use of a first quality ofservice rule or the quality of service rule to a current moment, andwherein the operations further comprise: when a time for which the firstquality of service rule or the quality of service rule is not usedreaches the aging time, deleting, by the user equipment, the firstquality of service rule or the quality of service rule with an unusedtime that reaches the aging time.
 12. The user equipment according toclaim 11, wherein the first message further comprises at least one of anRQI use time, an RQI use granularity, an RQI use mode, or a usegranularity of an aging time, and wherein: the RQI use time is a usetime of the first quality of service rule or the quality of servicerule; the RQI use granularity is a use unit of the first quality ofservice rule or the quality of service rule; and the RQI use mode is aparameter mode of a temporary uplink filter comprised in the firstquality of service rule or the quality of service rule.
 13. Acommunications system, comprising: a control plane network element and auser plane network element; wherein the control plane network element isconfigured to send a first message, wherein the first message comprisesa correspondence between a downlink filter and a next generation qualityof service identifier (NQI), and wherein the first message comprisesmarking indication information of a reflective quality of serviceidentifier (RQI); and wherein the user plane network element isconfigured to: receive the first message sent by the control planenetwork element; determine, based on the downlink filter, the NQIcorresponding to a quality of service rule used by downlink data, andmark the downlink data based on the marking indication information ofthe RQI; and send information to a user equipment, wherein theinformation instructs the user equipment to use or not to use areflective quality of service (RQ) mechanism.
 14. The communicationssystem according to claim 13, wherein the first message furthercomprises a reflective quality of service rule priority (RQP), andwherein the RQP is used to indicate a matching priority order forsending the information by the user plane network element to the userequipment.
 15. The communications system according to claim 13, whereinthe first message further comprises at least one of a use time of theRQI, a use granularity of the RQI, a use mode of the RQI, an aging time,or a use granularity of an aging time, and wherein: the aging time is atime threshold from last use of a quality of service rule generated bythe user equipment based on the information to a current moment; the RQIuse time is a use time of the quality of service rule generated by theuser equipment; the RQI use granularity is a use unit of the quality ofservice rule generated by the user equipment; and the RQI use mode is aparameter mode of an uplink filter comprised in the quality of servicerule generated based on the information.
 16. The communications systemaccording to claim 13, wherein the communications system furthercomprises the user equipment, and wherein the user equipment isconfigured to receive the information.
 17. The communications systemaccording to claim 13, wherein determining, based on the downlinkfilter, the NQI corresponding to the quality of service rule used by thedownlink data comprises: determining that the downlink data matches thedownlink filter; and selecting the NQI corresponding to the downlinkfilter for the downlink data.
 18. A data transmission method, whereinthe method comprises: receiving, by a user plane network element, afirst message from a control plane network element, wherein the firstmessage comprises a correspondence between a downlink filter and a nextgeneration quality of service identifier (NQI), and marking indicationinformation of a reflective quality of service identifier (RQI);determining, by the user plane network element, the NQI corresponding toa quality of service rule used by downlink data, and marking thedownlink data based on the marking indication information of the RQI;and sending, by the user plane network element, information to a userequipment, wherein the information instructs the user equipment to useor not to use a reflective quality of service (RQ) mechanism.
 19. Themethod according to claim 18, wherein the determining, by the user planenetwork element, the NQI corresponding to a quality of service rule usedby downlink data comprises: determining, by the user plane networkelement, that the downlink data matches the downlink filter; andselecting, by the user plane network element, the NQI corresponding tothe downlink filter for the downlink data.
 20. An apparatus, wherein theapparatus comprises: at least one processor; and a memory coupled to theat least one processor and storing programming instruction for executionby the at least one processor to: receive a first message from a controlplane network element, wherein the first message comprises acorrespondence between a downlink filter and a next generation qualityof service identifier (NQI), and marking indication information of areflective quality of service identifier (RQI); determine, based on thedownlink filter, the NQI corresponding to a quality of service rule usedby downlink data, and mark the downlink data based on the markingindication information of the RQI; and send information to a userequipment, wherein the information instructs the user equipment to useor not use a reflective quality of service (RQ) mechanism.
 21. Theapparatus according to claim 20, wherein determining, based on thedownlink filter, the NQI corresponding to the quality of service ruleused by the downlink data comprises: determining that the downlink datamatches the downlink filter; and select the NQI corresponding to thedownlink filter for the downlink data.
 22. A data transmission method,wherein the method comprises: sending, by a control plane networkelement to a user plane network element, a first message, wherein thefirst message comprises a correspondence between a downlink filter and anext generation quality of service identifier (NQI), and markingindication information of a reflective quality of service identifier(RQI); receiving, by the user plane network element, the first messagefrom the control plane network element; determining, by the user planenetwork element based on the downlink filter, the NQI corresponding to aquality of service rule used by downlink data, and marking the downlinkdata based on the marking indication information of the RQI; andsending, by the user plane network element, information to a userequipment, wherein the information instructs the user equipment to useor not to use a reflective quality of service (RQ) mechanism.
 23. Themethod according to claim 22, wherein the determining, by the user planenetwork element based on the downlink filter, the NQI corresponding to aquality of service rule used by downlink data comprises: determining, bythe user plane network element, that the downlink data matches thedownlink filter; and selecting, by the user plane network element, theNQI corresponding to the downlink filter for the downlink data.